


i like you (and that ain't nothing new)

by brandywine421



Category: Daredevil (TV), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Canon, Friends With Benefits, Friendship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-08-19 23:54:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20218357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brandywine421/pseuds/brandywine421
Summary: "You will never be my sugar daddy.""Not sweet or responsible enough for all that, babe."*Vague canon because I know I fudged the timelines.  Tony's a little older, they meet when Matt's in college, fumbles through canonical events up to AoU and post Defenders.





	1. Chapter 1

_"You will never be my sugar daddy."_

_"Not sweet or responsible enough for all that, babe."_

* * *

Six beers and a whiskey, four tabs and a couple bumps, three offers and a cab - but who was fucking counting - he was here, home base, home run - better - stick to baseball - no crying in baseball - no liars in baseball - no that was - knocking, he was supposed to knock -

The door opened under his hand and he didn't stumble or stagger into Matt's apartment as much as he fell into the waiting arms of his lover boy who blinked at him with sightless eyes that saw much more than his own with or without the glasses.

"Sunglasses at night, showing your age, aren't you?"

Tony went in for a kiss but caught cactus stubble and a bruise that didn't belong on the college kid's jaw.

He leaned on a couch or futon or mattress stand, whatever, while Matt clanked locks and chains to the door. It was Hell's Kitchen for fuck's sake so he didn't know why the guy bothered but Tony was not one to judge someone on their quirks - plus, Matt's OCD had a purpose and he wasn't here to fuck it up, he was here to get fucked and messy - wait -

"You're a fucking mess," Matt repeated, pressing something into his hand. He dragged the damp rag across his face, wrinkling his face at the red and green yuck etched around his nose.

"Shower might sober you up - "

"Show me," Tony said, taking his hand and making the blind joke that always got that annoyed twitch on that fuckable mouth. Matt spun him around and pressed close against him, urging him forward with a kiss to the back of his neck.

"Don't want to taste that shit in your mouth," Matt rumbled into his pulse point, a favorite spot to nuzzle and luckily, one of Tony's favorite spot to be nuzzled.

He forgot things between trysts, sure, like Matt's aversion to strong cologne and cigarettes, like his absolute hatred for loud rock music - asshole had threatened to lock him out once when he rolled up showing off his new speakers - but for everything he forgot, he tried to remember double. That was the key to making things last, right? Remember important things even if you forgot unimportant ones - his father - no - wasn't thinking about his dad tonight - he wasn't drinking about his dad tonight -

"Brush your teeth, I'll try and help with the rest," Matt interrupted and Tony faced himself in the mirror and tried not to vibrate away from his friend's grasp. Matt was blind, he couldn't see the sins Tony carried on his face, probably could taste them - feel them bubbling under his skin - but he wouldn't see the bruises under his eyes, the blown pupils or chapped lips from too much liquor and not enough hydration.

Matt skimmed his hand across the sink until Tony spotted the pre-wrapped toothbrush and snatched it. He didn't need a handler - he needed -

Matt loosely circled his chest with his arms and started navigating the buttons and belt, taking care to strum through his unshaved chest hair with polite intent.

"Delicate sensibilities," Tony said, squeezing a glob of toothpaste out and trying to refocus on his goal for the night.

Matt pinched his nipple. "Delicate?"

"Right, and you're not sensible either, just, rambling over here," Tony said, getting to work on his teeth and marking where to return the mouthwash when he got to that step.

Matt yanked down his jeans and disappeared from the mirror as he crouched to untie his shoes. "I just prefer to have use of all my senses when I have an overnight guest - and you'll burn out my taste with that shit on your teeth."

"It actually goes in my nose - "

"You want me to pinch you again?"

"Yes, please," Tony said, squealing when Matt bit his ass on the way back to his feet.

He turned once he'd completed the request for 'mouth sanitation' and caught the hem of Matt's shirt, yanking it off to put them on even ground. Damn, the boy had a body on him -

"Not a boy, old man," Matt corrected.

He didn't know he'd said it out loud but he could fix that problem by using his mouth for something better than accidental words. He leaned in and caught Matt's bottom lip between his teeth, sliding his hands into the waistband of his sweats to cup his ass and make sure Matt didn't pull away until they were both out of breath.

* * *

_"Sounds fine to me."_

_"I have a magnet keeping shrapnel out of my - "_

_"You always smelled like metal and blood, now you just sound like it, too. Bet you taste the same - "_

* * *

Matt liked to sleep with his ear against the cool metal of Tony's chest. He'd wake up with Tony's fingers strumming through his hair, his heartbeat a steady hum against his skin instead of a thump in his earshot.

"I can find you anywhere in the city," he admitted, wincing when Tony's fingers went still against his forehead.

"Thought you could do that anyway."

"Easier now," Matt said, stretching and sitting up, feeling the early warmth of the sleepy sun through the windows. "You find a wireless signal?"

"I possibly hacked your neighbor's and gave it a boost," Tony replied, tracing a scar on his side that he hadn't mouthed across the night before. "I just got of terrorist captivity and you still have more battle scars than I do."

He didn't really have a response for that so he let Tony touch him as much as he wanted, putting his arms back so he could have a better reach.

"Really? You don't want to talk about it? I swear, I talked more last night than I have in years and you - don't want to tell me anything?"

He slid his hand behind Tony's neck and tilted his mouth up for a kiss. "Do you really need to know? All that stuff you told me - do you really need anything else ever to worry about?"

Tony straddled him, kicking off the stray sheets to get the best angle. "I never want to worry about you. Law school?"

"Powering through," he replied honestly.

"Then - "

"You're not the only bad decision I've continued to make over the years," Matt sighed.

Tony pressed his thumbs into his jaw, probably searching his face without the glasses - or the mask. "Tell me something."

Could he? The hum of the arc reactor and the almost loss of the heartbeart made it not a choice. "I had the chance to avenge my father's death and I didn't take it. I don't know if I regret it, or what part of it I regret."

"Matt. That's - not a bad decision. Tequila or tattoos are bad decisions - cagefighting or armed robbery are bad decisions - Tony Stark and not murdering mobsters are NOT bad decisions, Goddamn," Tony laughed, sliding down his body to pin his knees and lick a stripe up his stirring length.

"I didn't get the scars from that - just - shit," Matt groaned as Tony took him in his mouth.

"Oh, Matty, I know you're just an accident prone blind guy with absolutely no ninja skills whatsoever but - I didn't - I never worried about you, okay?"

He exhaled. "I'm worried about me, maybe." Tony hummed around his cock and like magic, like always, his worries faded away.

* * *

_"Is there someone else?"_

_"There's always someone else."_

_"Good. I almost asked you to stay, Christ, you need a fucking spoon."_

_"Can I still stay?"_

* * *

Matt shifted in his sleep, tightening his grasp on Tony's midsection as his phone lit up across the room with yet another text or voicemail.

He didn't want to deal with SHIELD or the aftermath of alien invasion or the catastrophe that waited for him outside. He was fine here, fine and sober and not falling - not falling -

Matt's fingers twisted in his shirt as if he could sense that he needed to be caught, stopped, cushioned from the hard contact with the dead ground.

"Stop thinking, you didn't come here to think," Matt mumbled, pushing his knee between his thighs. "Did you?"

"Maybe."

Matt flopped dramatically away from him, the cool breeze shocking Tony out of his thoughts effectively as he yanked the pillow from him to cuddle as replacement. "Iron Man is boring, where's Tony when I want a hay-jay?"

"Seriously? Hay-jay is in your vocabulary now?" Tony asked, sitting up. "Dude, what happened to your place anyway - "

"Oh wow, now you have questions," Matt groaned, recovering from his drama fail and going for action win by tackling him - gently - and pinning him against the mattress. "Give me five minutes," Matt whispered, "And I'lll take full blame with your SO."

Oh. "Daredevil's on my allowed list, Asshole, you know you're on my always allowed list," Tony frowned.

Matt huffed and leaned in, kissing him deep, tongue scraping across the back of his teeth, fighting his own for dominance and stealing his breath, air from black of space, from the highest emptiest highs, from the ashes of the fallen buildings - Tony pushed him away.

"Five minutes, can I finish?" Matt panted, wiping his mouth. "The fuck did you have Shwarma?"

He laughed, only a little hysterical, and pulled Matt close so he could press his face against his neck - the spot still worked and Matt made his disappointment known with a love bite. "I can't imagine what shit sounded like to you yesterday."

"Yeah, don't imagine. Don't even pretend because I'm not going to reciprocate with you after the way you turned up last night. Your lips were probaby blue from lack of oxygen - and it's my job to make you breathless, not some stupid panic attack," Matt countered.

"Your job?"

"When you're in my apartment, yeah. Unless - "

Tony kissed him. "No, sorry. Just - shit got real yesterday."

"Fuck you, it's always real."

He laughed into his mouth. "Aliens and mind control and magic - "

Matt huffed. "Well, fair."

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

  
"Hear me out," Tony started.

Matt didn't want to, Matt wanted to sleep and nap and wake up long enough to puke and start over. "Dude. I spent yesterday cramming cotton in my ears to keep from throwing up all over the subway - "

"Why were you taking the subway?"

"Because I didn't have enough cash for a taxi, fuck off - God, what time is it? Why is everything still so fucking loud?"

"You're hungover as fuck, Matt. My bad," Tony apologized with a kiss to his cheek. "Thanks for the segue, though - because I need a massive favor - "

He rolled over and pressed his face into the pillow. "Nope."

"I - it's not - shit, I need Pepper for this."

Nice, toss another shovel of sin on his back, he could take it.

"I want to hire you. Lawyer, sure, on paper, whatever you want - but I want - I can't trust anybody right now, man, after Obie and PAs turning into spies and nukes and alien gods - fuck, I'm doing this all wrong."

"Why aren't you hungover?" Matt asked, parsing the words still filtering through his headache.

"No hard liquor on weeknights, something I'm working on - I was supposed to bring this up last night, I had a whole plan."

"I won't say I'm not currently suffering an employment downswing - but I don't need your handouts, your - "

"Charity - and that's not what this is. I need help. I'm trying to - show personal growth and fucking ask for it." Tony's calloused hands tracked up his back and squeezed his shoulders.

"We've always been secret, Tony, are you sure you want to take this out of the box?" Matt asked.

"Absolutely not. I want to keep you all to myself - but I need someone to watch my back and I promised Rhodey and Pepper that - that I would try."

Matt reached back and took his hand. "Try?"

"Try to think of someone I trusted enough to ask," Tony whispered, sprawling across his back.

"Tony."

"Matt."

"My life's a clusterfuck right now."

"Is that new for you?"

"Fuck off."

"Will you talk to Pepper?"

He sighed. "What does she know about me?"

"She knows I've been seeing you for over ten years and that I have no plans to stop. She knows you're my friend. She knows you're off limits which is why it's going to be so uncomfortable to introduce you. She knows absolutely everything about me - "

"Off-limits so I can't hit on her?" Matt interrupted.

"Don't give me fantasies if you aren't willing to follow through - off-limits for snooping and photo ops. She'll eat your bio like candy and have you suited up and shiny in a matter of hours if - I don't need you for that. I need - "

"My bullshit detector, we're on the same page, I think," Matt said and Tony went still against him.

"Really?"

"Never," Matt said, flipping over to throw him off.

* * *

Tony told her not to worry about dressing up but it had been years since Pepper had been able to go out less than photograph ready so she was armored in her highest heels and designer best.

She regretted it when Happy drove her to Hell's Kitchen with a tight frown plastered on his face. She regretted it more when he had to follow her up the stairs because the elevator was broken in the 'unimpressive' apartment building.

Who the hell did Tony know in a place like this?

"I've never been inside before," Happy confessed, knocking on the door.

It was slightly reassuring that he'd been here before, but only slightly.

Tony opened the door and kissed her like they were at home and not in his secret boyfriend's place. "Please don't be weird."

"This whole situation is weird," Happy said, watching Tony lock down the heavy door.

She took in the sparsely decorated apartment and tried not to judge but it seemed like the guy was a minimalist at best. The man that stepped out of the back was dressed in a neatly fitted suit and wore round red sunglasses.

She knew him. His tiny law firm had taken down Wilson Fisk and conveniently saved her from an art deal with an international fugitive.

"Pepper, Happy, this is my friend - Matt Murdock," Tony said, fidgeting but visibly comfortable in the blind man's space. At least now Pepper knew the source of that reappearing hickey on his collarbone.

She reached for his hand and shook it firmly. His hands were rough scarred when she glanced at it, not soft and pampered like most lawyers she'd met. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Murdock. I was sorry to hear about your firm's dissolution - you did good work taking down Wilson Fisk."

"Pepper - I asked you to be nice, what the hell," Tony scolded, wincing.

But Matt's lips turned up in a polite smile. "Thanks. My ex-partner was the brains behind the operation, but I appreciate the inclusion."

"I'm Tony's head of security, we'll have to assign someone to make sure your - needs are attended to," Happy said, holding out his hand.

Pepper caught a flash of panic on Tony's face but was too busy watching Matt take Happy's wrist instead of his hand and promptly flipping him over his shoulder to land on his back with a heavy thump.

"Matt, come on - " Tony groaned. "When I'm the only person in the room on good behavior then we really have fallen on hard times."

Matt swiveled toward Tony like a radar beacon. "You said you wanted me to back you up because you were signing up to join a top secret government superhero team but your day to day security doesn't even have a tazer - not a gun, not a tazer, probably not even a Swiss army knife - are you fucking with me, Tony?"

Pepper helped Happy to his feet and brushed him off, hoping his ego would recover.

Tony smoothed his hands down Matt's arms. "Happy's prepared when he needs to be, Matt and have to rephrase 'backup' if you're going to flip my friends with little to no provocation."

She was impressed and not by the flip, but the easy way Tony doted on him, like petting a cactus on fire. Matt fumbled with his tie and turned back to them. "I'm sorry, Mr. Hogan, I meant no offense."

Happy glanced at her. "Sure. I'll retract the security offer."

"I'm not sure what Tony's told you, but I'm not known for playing well with others. Probably why I'm between cases and even considering this - but if he needs a specialized consultant - " Matt hesitated.

"How are you with patent law?" Pepper interrupted.

He tilted his head to the side as if listening to something, listening to *her*. "I'm a quick study."

She had no doubt of that.

* * *

"I'd like to sit in on this meeting with you," Matt said a few weeks after he'd started haunting Stark Industries. Happy called it 'haunting' anyway, but the guy had been spooked since the bodyslam. He was quiet and unobtrusive, sure, but he wasn't a ghost.

He had a way with Tony that Pepper was trying her best to understand. Tony made it to at least one meal a day with her and got more sleep during Matt's first week than she'd marked in months on her secret sleep calendar.

"Can I ask why?"

Matt did the little 'listening to nothing' gesture before he replied. "He smells funny. I don't think you should touch him."

She hesitated. "You're Tony's consultant, not mine."

"Your continued health and safety is necessary for Tony's continued health and safety," Matt replied evenly. He lowered his voice. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to him, Ms. Potts so you're on my radar."

"I have a lot of meetings this morning, do you want me to move - "

"No, go about your regular business, I'll just be quietly working in the corner. You won't hear a peep from me unless, well, I need to make a scene. I'll do my best not to make a scene."

"Sure," she scoffed.

He followed her into the office and made a space by the window with his tablet and headset. "Tony hasn't explained anything to you, has he?"

That was vague. "You'll have to narrow that a bit."

"All my senses, subtracting sight, are enhanced. I'm not just trying to ruin your day," Matt said quietly.

Pepper should have figured that out. "Thank you for telling me. A lot of things make more sense now."

"You don't have to stop wearing perfume, Tony takes everything to extremes. Deodorant is necessary," Matt smiled.

She laughed, glad he'd resolved the problem before she needed to have that conversation.

He stayed true to his word to stay quiet and she'd almost forgotten about him when they let in her ten o'clock. But she was glad he was there when the trio of muscular men in ill-fitting suits entered instead of the pencil-pushers she expected.

Matt looked immersed in his work but her phone buzzed with a text. *Is the alien prince in town?*

Pepper had absolutely no idea and another text lit up. *These guys are not human. Not like any robot I've ever heard.*

"Gentlemen, I see you're here to discuss a possible - " Pepper began after sending him Thor's phone number and a side-eye emoji.

She didn't get to finish her statement before the middle one raised his hands and revealed glowing bracelets - but he didn't get to finish his attack before Matt's tablet spiraled through the air and crashed into the man.

"Desk, please," Matt said, mid-spin kick to take out the other two aliens and she took it as instruction to duck under her conveniently lead-shielded desk. She texted Tony that she might be late for lunch and that she would be using Matt for meetings going forward and needed to sync their schedules.

Something shattered and something boomed and Thor's voice filled the space. "Alas, you have started without me!"

"I'm trying not to break stuff, little help?" Matt answered after a beat.

She sent another text to order a new tablet for their consultant.

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

  
"Karen and Theo say they haven't seen you around lately," Foggy said.

Matt had been spending most of his nights in New York at Tony's, and not actually in his bed just in his apartment.

It was a strange feeling to go from a strictly 'friends with benefits' situation to a 'friends forever' situation. Foggy was supposed to be in the second column and Matt wasn't sure if that was true anymore.

"And the Devil's been pretty quiet."

Matt took a long pull off his beer. "Got a new job." He held out his arm and pushed back his watch.

"Is that - a tan line?"

He smiled. "I am encouraged to get blackout drunk during plane trips but so far, so good."

"Tell me everything, man, I didn't know you wanted to travel," Foggy said.

"I absolutely do not want, but I needed the money and it's - a favor for a friend," Matt replied.

"Oh. Any friend I know?" Foggy asked after a beat.

"It's the guy you aren't allowed to ask any questions about. Can we keep that rule in play?" Matt replied.

"Wow, really? Sure, Matt. But - you aren't in any trouble, are you?"

Matt took another swallow of beer. "Nope." He'd punched a stray lizard monster yesterday and got a high-five from the Black Widow without even wearing a mask.

"I didn't know you kept in touch with that guy. Just when I think you're done keeping secrets - " Foggy started.

"Different kind of secret and you damned well know it," Matt snapped before remembering that he was the bad friend in all of this. "Sorry."

"Me, too. I just - miss you."

Matt missed Foggy, too. "He's having some trouble and I didn't have anything better to do, Fogs. I'm spending my days doing corporate law so I feel like I'm being suitably punished without needing my face shoved in it."

"Ouch, then I'm extra sorry for bringing it up. Travel and corporate shit, did you have to buy new suits?"

"They sent me to a tailor," Matt grumbled but Foggy's bright laugh made the whole night out worth it. "I've got a couple of weeks of down time coming up and I'm going to wear sweatpants every day."

"Why the down time?" Foggy asked.

"He's taking his girl on vacation, I think, none of my business," he hedged. "Point is, I don't have to report to the office and I'll make sure and get a sandwich from Theo and return one of Karen's calls when I'm in town."

"If you feel like getting back to your roots, I was going to offer you a case. It needs a little more attention than I have to give right now," Foggy hesitated.

"Promise it's not patent law or - " Matt replied, curious.

"Oh God no, it's - well, you'll see," Foggy said, passing him a binder of printed braille. He'd come prepared.

* * *

  
"Wait - so Matt's ex-girlfriend is a ninja?" Pepper whispered, flipping through the screens of useless information. Tony had only given her the barest of explanations for what Matt had told him in his 'emergency' voicemail but Tony was Worried.

"Matt's ex-girlfriend is dead," Tony corrected. "He fucked his life up for her and she died anyway - "

"Focus, Tony. What _exactly_ did he say when he called?" Pepper said, trying to keep her voice even. Matt had become a welcome addition to her daily life and even Tony's superhero friends liked having him around. Steve and Bruce thought he was psychic but she had a feeling Natasha and Clint had caught on to the specialized hearing, at least.

"He said he had to try. He'll die trying, Pepper, Elektra's dead, I saw her grave myself - if he thinks she's - "

Pepper glanced up and saw Clint's hand clasped over Tony's mouth and Natasha standing behind him with a phone pressed to her ear. "Maria? Hey, can you tell me if Murdock's people are pinging clear? Run a location - wait - " She lowered the phone. "Tony. Any reason Daredevil would kidnap your boy?"

Tony shook his head behind Clint's hand but Pepper didn't have the shield to hide her expression and Natasha turned her back on them as she raised the phone again. "How much - _shit_."

"Dibs," Clint said, lowering his hand.

"Address? No, put it down on Clint's tab, domestic," Natasha said. "Bleach."

"The fuck is she talking about?" Tony demanded.

Clint shrugged, checking his quiver and sidearms as he spoke. "I have layers, dude, and sometimes they require my government clearance to keep me outta jail. Remind me to never talk to you about rental agreements."

Natasha slid the phone in her pocket and glared at Pepper and Tony sharply. "Allegedly, Daredevil's about to blow up a building to prevent the ninja apocalypse."

Pepper took Tony's hand when his eyes went suddenly distant. "Hey."

Tony squeezed her fingers. "He'll find a way to fuck it up, just wait - he'll - "

The building rattled with a distant boom - explosion - oh no - "Oh no - look - " she said, holding up her tablet with the live images from a local news station. "Is that - "

"A dragon - that's a fucking - Daredevil's riding a dragon because of course he is," Clint said, throwing up his hands. "Always showing a brother up."

Pepper swatted at Tony until he blinked and glared at her. "Suit the fuck up, Tony - go - " It took the boom of thunder and Thor's cape flying past the window to get him to call the suit and snatch Clint up for a ride across town.

She pointed at Natasha before she could move. "No. Get my consultant's name off everything."

Natasha's face softened. "Maria's already on it. 'Bleach' is our code for wiping the slate. Did you know - "

"He's got three names on his 'exception' list. Matt and Daredevil are two of them and a certain air force colonel he's never gotten to second base with makes three," Pepper confessed. "So I wasn't sure but - "

"It's so far off the record that we're not even going to tell the bat-eared bastard," Natasha promised, giving her a rare hug. "Can I please go fight the dragon now?"

* * *

  
Tony dropped Clint off inside the NYPD perimeter and made it to the main event just in time to see the tiny brunette woman flinging the even tinier blond guy at the dragon with a glowing fist. He landed beside Thor and they watched the guy pull out the dragon's pulsing black heart like he was plucking a fruit from a tree.

"Aw shit, did we make the news?" Luke Cage asked, accepting Thor's hand to help him climb out of the suspiciously Luke Cage shaped hole in the pavement. "Is it - oh good, Danny's on it."

"Who the fuck is that?" Tony demanded, motioning vaguely at the kid trying to stomp the evil out of his prize. "Where's Matt?"

Luke's eyes narrowed. "Never heard of him."

He was going to lose his shit -

"Anybody got eyes on the devil?" the woman called.

Clint's voice buzzed in his ear. "Found him, but he's not in the best shape - got a dead woman in his lap."

"JARVIS, take me to him," Tony said, leaving the whole dead dragon tableau and letting his AI steer him to Matt - stupid fucker couldn't go a single day without getting into an apocalypse?

He dropped to his knees, the armor falling away when he got to the alley. Elektra, as beautiful and heartbreaking as ever, lay broken in Matt's lap. His cowl was tossed aside and his eyes were glassy and empty. He didn't seem to notice that her chest had been split open and her insides were puddled around him.

"Hey, Matt, hey," Tony said in a low voice.

Clint moved beside him. "I think his hearing's off, he's got blood leaking out of his ears."

Tony reached out and carefully pressed his fingers against Matt's jaw until he reacted, opening his mouth, licking his lips and closing his eyes. Tony pulled one of his hands away from the body and pressed the sticky fingers against his throat so Matt could hopefully feel his words. "Let me take you home. Can I take you home?"

"Is the dragon dead?" Matt asked hoarsely.

"Yeah," Tony said, nodding for Clint to take the lead and move Elektra and flank Matt's left side.

"I can't walk," Matt rasped, leaning into Tony's grip. "Can't see - who - "

"I gotcha, asshole, scared the hell out of me, and Pepper - who does that - oh, right, your stupid ass - " Tony started in a slow and steady tone, pressing Matt's hand and probably a couple of broken fingers, over the arc reactor.

"I'll see you back at the Tower, I'll get Thor on the same page," Clint said.

Tony called the armor and JARVIS arranged it accordingly, getting them in the air.

* * *


	4. Chapter 4

"He changed his next of kin," Foggy said blankly, hand scrabbling down Karen's sleeve to her wrist. "The hell you say?"

"He put Father Lantom down when you moved uptown, for logistical reasons," Karen said but he still felt like he'd been punched in the gut.

A whistle caught his attention from the lobby of the overcrowded police station and he saw a scruffy guy he recognized from TV waving a bow at him. The fuck? Foggy knew sign language and followed his instruction, steering Karen across the room.

"Nelson, right?"

"Hawkeye?" Karen blurted out. "The fuck?"

Hawkeye gave her a thumb's up. "Head's up, we got the Devil back at ours, the lawyer can't turn up for a few days though, got to get some alibis lined up for him. Finish up here and I'll meet you outside when you're done."

"We're all done here, right, Foggy?" Karen said. "Everyone else got to leave, we're - "

"If you've got Matt, we're following you," Foggy agreed, hurrying to grab his and Karen's jacket and following the Avenger - fucking really Matt? - out of the precinct. "How the hell do you - "

"Don't know the cosplayer, but will be getting to know him real soon," Hawkeye said. "Matt's a friend, though. He's a consultant for - "

"Oh my God, no wonder he didn't tell me before," Foggy said when he saw the limo.

"Who?" Karen demanded.

"Gossip inside the car," Hawkeye instructed, holding open the door and pressing a finger to his ear. "Bringing the civvies, Cap."

"I think Matt's secret new job is for Tony Stark," Foggy whispered as he climbed in with Karen.

"Do they know each other?"

"Possibly been banging since college," Foggy whispered back.

"That long? Bruce won the pot, the bastard," Hawkeye muttered, climbing in a second after the car started to roll. "Introductions - I'm Clint, you're Franklin and - "

"Foggy and Karen - is Matt all right?" Karen corrected.

"Not so much, but we're hoping you guys can help convince him to let us help with that - we have tech, you know? We can help but and I'm quoting a real doctor - he's throwing a shit fit," Clint said. "He blew out his ears."

"Fuck," Foggy hissed. "We need to be there faster."

"And Elektra?" Karen asked, grabbing his hand tightly.

"Dead again, for real this time," Clint replied quietly. "Jones said the dragon - burst out of her when they blew the building. Word is, she had enough control to fuck up the leaders of a global ninja organization before she went down - he had a chance to say goodbye before everything went boom."

Foggy shuddered. "Dammit. Maybe his priest should be his next of kin because I have no idea how to make this better."

"Priest is only for inside the Kitchen, you're down on his paperwork for this side of town. Tony said he really doesn't like doctors," Clint shrugged.

"Told you," Karen said, kissing his forehead. "He's alive and we still have a chance to yell at him when we get his ears fixed."

Yelling would have to wait, he needed to be sure of the alive part first.

* * *

  
"Tony. These are Matt's friends," Pepper said, stepping into the room with Foggy, who he remembered, and the blonde that Matt wouldn't talk about.

"He isn't allowed to be pissed that we're talking about private shit, now what can we stick him with so he'll stop punching our medics?" Tony demanded, moving aside enough to give them a look but not enough that he had to let go of Matt's flailing hands.

Foggy hesitated, his eyes desperate with worry - but join the fucking crowd. "Hawkeye said he doesn't have his hearing, does he have - "

Karen pressed her hand against Matt's cheek and he immediately went still. Tony cursed under his breath. "Still has his touch and smell."

"You've got blood all over you, go wash your hands," Foggy ordered, hip-checking him out of the way. "He's my best friend right now, not your house-boy."

"Hey," Pepper and Bruce both defended before Tony could process he was being called out by a stranger. "He's our friend," Pepper said.

"But he's our family, so," Karen replied with a small shrug. "Sorry. Foggy gets dibs."

"Don't let them put me in the box, Karen - don't want to be a robot," Matt said suddenly.

"He means the Cradle, it'll repair his bones - it's not - it's nanotech," Tony said when Foggy and Karen both turned to him, accusingly.

"Safe? It won't - change his DNA or mess with his already messed up brain?" Foggy demanded.

"No, it'll just set the bones, patch the bleeds - he needs so much surgery but he made me swear never to give him anesthesia," Tony said. "You're his medical power of attorney and - "

"And you still haven't washed your hands," Foggy cut him off, swapping his hands with Karen's to cradle Matt's face and lean in close. "Matt."

"Foggy, no - sorry - please, Fog," Matt whimpered.

"How long will it take?" Karen asked.

"Hour, tops, then he can suffer all he wants," Bruce answered immediately.

"Matt," Foggy said. "Do you trust me?"

"Always," Matt whispered. "Not the box, please - "

"Few minutes of pain or six months on your back, Matty, what would you choose for me, for Karen? Can you take a few minutes of hell or do you want half a year?" Foggy murmured urgently against his cheek. "You can take it, can't you?"

"Foggy," Karen hissed.

Matt swallowed thickly. "Can't hear - can't hear in the box."

"You can't hear now and it'll get better, you can take it, Matt," Foggy said.

Matt swallowed again, shuddering miserably. "I can take it."

"We'll be right here when you're done," Foggy said, turning to Tony. "Permission granted, but - "

"Have BFF wars later, fix Matt now," Pepper ordered. "Bruce, is the Cradle ready for him?"

* * *


	5. Chapter 5

  
"He's got an apartment here, but he stays with Tony and Pepper, I think. I don't know if Stark gave it to him officially or anything. We don't ask a lot of questions," Steve Rogers told Foggy as he carefully placed Matt on the huge mattress. Matt had passed out in the Cradle, from pain or terror or general misery, but it was a relief to everyone outside of the 'box'.

"But you're friends?" Karen asked, finally not blushing in the presence of the over-attractive superhero.

"Yeah. I mean, he works for Tony and Pepper but he's looked over paperwork for all of us by now, and he fights like, well, Daredevil, I guess," Steve shrugged. "He's a friend."

"This is my fault, I should have never given him Jessica's file," Foggy said, sitting down beside his unconscious friend.

"Don't start taking the blame for Matt's baggage, you told me yourself - he'd do anything for Elektra," Karen reminded him.

Steve shifted in the doorway. "He's told us about you guys and we know Tony - but - is there anything we can do? Anyone we can call for him?"

Pepper entered and poked Captain America in the ribs making him jump. "Why isn't he in the penthouse?"

"His friends are here," Steve said blankly. "You do sex stuff up there, this is a not-sex room."

Pepper blinked at him. Tony, Clint and Natasha crowded in behind her.

Foggy had never put a lot of thought into the Real World: Avengers Tower before, but he was going to make room in his life.

Matt sat up abruptly with a sharp gasp and fisted his hands in the silk sheets as he tried to get his bearings. His nostrils flared and he twitched toward Foggy who took his wrist.

"Hey, you're safe, you're fine - we got you out of the Cradle and - " he started.

"I can't believe you put me in that thing - I need to update my medical paperwork." Matt panted.

"No, you need to leave the superheroics to people that are getting paid for it - you guys do get paid, right?" Karen paused, waiting for Natasha's slight nod. "Are you - "

"_Elektra_," Matt whispered, the syllables breaking.

"I'm so sorry, Matt," Foggy started.

"You don't have to talk about it," Tony cut in but Matt shook his head, pulling his hand back and twisting it in the sheets again.

"They brought her back, some kind of magic," Matt said slowly. "She killed for them, like a mindless puppet - "

Foggy noticed the silent shift in the room, Natasha's hand snapping out to seize Steve's wrist and Clint turning his back to them and facing the window.

Matt raised his fist to his chest. "She killed Stick."

"Wait, that asshole that groomed you - " Tony blurted out, closing his mouth with a snap when Matt covered his face with his hand.

"She killed him - but she didn't kill me. She could have, should have - that's what they sent her to do - but he was more of a father to her than he ever was to me and she - it wasn't her, Foggy, because she killed Stick, but it - had to be her if she didn't kill me - "

Foggy caught his hands and pulled him into a hug so he would just - stop moving. "Matt. Listen to me. You did absolutely everything you could."

"She died for me," Matt whispered. "And I still couldn't save her - "

Foggy was vaguely aware of Karen clearing the room but Matt was sobbing too hard for him to process anything when Matt was losing Elektra for the second time in less than a year.

* * *

  
"_Tony_."

He ignored Natasha's gaze and caught Clint's instead. "It's none of your business. _Fuck_. Nelson better not fuck this up again - "

"You said a trigger word, Stark," Clint said. "Grooming. Explain."

"Matt's an orphan, old guy tried to convert him to the ninja game as a kid but it didn't take. Same old guy trained his ex and got different results," Tony sighed. "He only told me because I promised never to look into it."

"Putting aside the child soldier part of that for future discussion; SHIELD has an entire department devoted to the Hand and your - friend - was somehow involved in cutting off most of the fingers tonight," Natasha said flatly.

"I think his dead girlfriend did the cutting part before a dragon busted out of her corpse," Tony muttered. "It's - I need to call his priest, see if they fucked with her grave."

"They did, Father Lantom is working on it," Karen announced, slipping out of the bedroom. "Matt's going to take a shower. He asked me to check on Detective Knight but - "

"I'll drive you," Natasha said immediately.

Karen nodded and visibly steadied herself. "He said Stick is definitely none of your business, but if you want to know about the Hand, I can vouch for you with Colleen and Danny. They know more about what happened with all this. Matt was a little - preoccupied with Elektra."

"She gives him tunnel vision, every time," Tony whispered.

Karen paused beside him. "Foggy's on the phone with his girlfriend, if you want to go in. He seems to think Matt won't mind the company if it's you."

He glanced at Pepper who had a solemn look on her face. She leaned in close and whispered, "Sorry, Tony. You're going to have to learn to share. Go."

* * *


	6. Chapter 6

"He never told me it was you," Foggy admitted, taking a sip of the coffee Tony brought him. "It was you, right? College?"

"Yeah," Tony replied. "He was a fucking baby back then, mean as a snake, too - just what I needed."

Foggy hesitated. "Matt's not mean."

"He was to coked out alcoholics that tried to bang him at charity functions," Tony shrugged. He met Foggy's gaze. "Look, he hates almost everything about me, okay? My business, my lifestyle, my goatee - everything - but - he's always been there for me when I needed him. Every time I bottomed out or needed someone to fuck the emo out of my system, he always let me in."

"Did you know about Daredevil?" Foggy had to know, he *needed* to know if this billionaire douchebag knew about Matt's hobby before he did.

Tony seemed to sense the landmine. "Not the way you're thinking. You ever fuck him, or see him lounging around naked ?"

Foggy glared at him. "No, I didn't make a habit of watching him undress."

"If you did - you'd have known he wasn't just a clumsy accident prone blind guy or whatever he tells people - guy's got marks from that bastard Stick, marks from a brawl when he was a teenager - he's got a ring-scar on his hip I've been trying to decipher since he was 25 - little Celtic symbol forever on his skin from somebody's knuckles," Tony said darkly. "Did he tell me what he was doing outright? No - but I've always kept my eyes on his little corner of hell - but it's not my place to tell him how to live his life. That's not how we work."

"But why are you just showing up now?" Foggy blurted out.

Tony frowned sharply. "I'm not. I kept in touch with him. Sure, we usually don't connect in person until after we've had our respective meltdowns - "

"He's working for you. Stark Industries," Foggy stated.

"And thank God for small miracles. He saved Pepper a couple of months ago from shapeshifting aliens - talked me out of building a sentient robot army a couple of weeks ago - he's so fucking competent, I can't stand it sometimes," Tony muttered. "I fucking - needed him and he stepped up. Not because I'm his BFF, or his boyfriend but because I asked for his help."

Foggy sighed. "Then I'm sorry for giving you shit."

Tony wrapped both hands around his coffee cup. "I don't know how to do heavy conversations or tears or bonding - that's not the kind of friend Matt needs me to be. I didn't know you guys were on the outs - I figured he was just keeping you to himself like always."

"I thought you were supposed to be a secret, but all your friends know him and - I never had verbal confirmation that you were his secret friend," Foggy said. "I think I'm more upset at myself for dropping the proverbial friendship ball than I am with anything you did."

"Dude," Tony balked. "You're his Rhodey, he's never going to give you up without a fight. Even if you never spoke to him again, he'd still take a bullet for you. God, you should have heard the sulfur he used to spit about that girl that broke your heart, what, Marci - the blonde? He wasn't even the devil back then, but he was ready to burn her house down for dumping you during mid-terms."

Foggy winced. "Please don't mention that when I ask Matt to be best man at our wedding."

Tony laughed. "No promises, maybe he'll bring me as his +1."

"Sentient robot army?" Foggy asked before they could open another can of emotional worms he couldn't deal with.

"I reconsidered after a few hours of sleep. Didn't even have to dose me this time," Tony shrugged. "So don't even worry about it."

He sighed again. "I will absolutely deny it later, but - he looked better when I saw him a few days ago than he has in months. So - thanks for looking after him."

"Oh no," Tony said. "None of that - there is no 'looking after' anyone, maybe looking out for, maybe, but definitely not looking after."

But Foggy meant what he said and wouldn't be taking it back.

* * *

"Hey, can I tag in for a conversation?" Pepper asked, tapping on the door to Matt's room. She wasn't used to feeling so territorial about her friends but she was a little put out that these strangers were taking up all of her friend's time.

"Sure, you don't have to make an appointment," Matt said, still moving stiffly from the Cradle's repairs.

Karen leaned over and pecked Matt on the lips. "Text me when you're at home. I like to know when the Devil's around and when I need my concealed weapon. Promise?"

"Of course, thanks for - everything," Matt said, taking a hug to go with the chaste farewell. Pepper disagreed with Tony - she definitely didn't think Matt had closed the deal with her. She would probably get along fine with the woman if she subtracted the reporter part, and the dreamy glances she threw Matt's way at every opportunity.

"You know you're not my boss, I signed on to work with Tony," Matt said, testing the field. Pepper didn't fault him for it, she had her CEO face on.

"I'm not here because of SI, I just wanted to speak to you alone and your friends are - hovering, which is strange considering we've never seen them with you before," she replied.

"Oh. Yeah, I'm a shit friend sometimes. A lot," he corrected.

She took a breath. "That's subjective. Look, Tony has a way of - encompassing your whole life - "

"That's not what I meant," Matt interrupted.

"I'm talking about me," she said. "I was never the one that ditched my friends when I got a new beau or a new job - but Tony's different, Stark Industries is different. I know you're Tony's but - "

"I didn't mean to scare you," Matt said. "And like I said, I work for Tony - you and I are friends."

Pepper took his hand. "Exactly. You're one of the few people in this building, hell, in the state, that I consider a friend that would still answer my calls if I dumped Tony tomorrow."

"You know I'm usually his rebound fuck, right?" Matt replied after a beat.

"Now about the ninjas."

"Pepper," Matt groaned, retracting his hand.

"You cut back on your night work when you started working here, didn't you? Are you going to stay retired or - "

He turned his back on her. "God. I don't know what Tony spilled when I was unconscious, but - I really need a few days to - "

"Get drunk and beat yourself up?"

"I fucked it all up last time, you know? She died in my arms - and then, she's back and - I know it doesn't make sense, but - maybe it was my second chance - maybe I could fix it, flip the ending - " He took an audible breath and she squeezed his shoulder impulsively, flattered when he leaned into her touch. "I fight with everything I have - she dies. I give up everything and start over and - she still dies in my arms. I don't know what I'm going to do now."

"You're going to rest and grieve for her the way you didn't let yourself before. This isn't like before. You're not alone, abandoned or fighting an unwinnable battle - you're not alone, Matt, if you don't want to be."

He turned and let her embrace him and she caught Tony watching them silently from the door. He held up a bottle of his father's whiskey, old and expensive and motioned upwards.

"Will you stay with us tonight? Upstairs?" Pepper asked.

"I need to call my priest, but after that - yeah. Is Foggy gone?" Matt asked, of course knowing Tony was there.

"He'll be back tomorrow and he said he'd call you later. We called truce but I still don't like him."

Matt hummed. "Doesn't Rhodey still have a hit out on me because of - reasons?"

Tony shrugged in acknowledgment. "Baby steps, babe."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I have this tagged as 'alternate' canon but the timeline fuckery is a little more obvs in this bit - we're already past S3 DD but we're just getting to Winter Soldier and AoU in this bit for the MCU. \o/

"Oh wow, everybody get the fuck out," Matt said, getting to the room five minutes too late considering the pieces of the conversation he'd caught on the way in. He grabbed Tony's arm and turned him away from the others.

"But - " Steve started, the salt of his tears thick in the space. Natasha was pulsing with anger and glowed with threat.

"You're bleeding and crying like a bitch, go clean yourself up - you're dismissed - Natasha, you need to go stick your finger down your throat and splash water on your face. Get out of his face," Matt added. "Who the fuck are you?"

"Sam Wilson, who the - "

Matt pushed Tony's head into his shoulder and bared his teeth at the stranger. "Make yourself useful, Flyboy, and bring me the cheapest bottle of Jameson in that wet bar on your way out - JARVIS will tell you when it's clear."

"Did you hear enough?" Natasha asked quietly, bringing him a bottle with trembling hands.

"His friend's dead boyfriend killed his dad, yeah, I think we're all on the same page so can you please get the fuck out and let him deal with it?" Matt snapped and the room slowly cleared so he could focus on Tony.

"Obadiah Stane killed my father. Obie's dead," Tony whispered. "Obie - "

"Was probably HYDRA, right? Does that track?" Matt asked carefully as Tony stepped away and opened the bottle of whiskey.

They would drink Matt's father's whiskey if they were going to be talking about Tony's dad, just to balance out the daddy issues.

"You - think Bucky was Steve's boyfriend?" Tony asked, making a dent in the bottle before passing it back to him.

Matt wasn't expecting that question. "You didn't know? He lets you play up the virgin thing because he never been with a woman - Bucky died before they could sort out the poly situation with the Carter woman - you really don't know that?"

"Shit, that makes fucking sense and I hate it," Tony sighed, slumping down on the couch. "SHIELD - "

"Rotten. I should have picked up on something," Matt said.

Tony reached for the whiskey and pulled him down to sit. "The contract you drew up insisted on complete separation from SI, only approved agents were allowed inside the building."

"You're still doing a full overhaul, right?" Matt asked. "Not just JARVIS, no offense - but Karen said there was some kind of computer virus?"

The AI answered when Tony shuddered and raked a hand through his hair. "I am currently operating in safe mode, Mr. Murdock, to isolate any unattended code."

Matt turned and put both hands on Tony's face, leaning in for a kiss. "Get it together, Stark. They tried to take your heart so you built a better one - they tried to take your planet so you blew up their space whales - now they're fucking with your weapons, with your tech and with your fucking dad - "

"No - they're fucking with my friends," Tony said suddenly, kissing him fiercely. "This is a goddamn emergency so you know what that means?"

Matt sighed, pressing their foreheads together. "Shots?"

"Reading my mind," Tony said, steadier than when Matt picked up his heartbeat.

"Can you assemble the Avengers or do we need to wait until Cap stops crying?" Matt asked.

"You think they're all solid?" Tony asked after a beat.

"Absolutely. But you know I've been wrong before - and I've never met the Hulk," he replied honestly.

"Doubt he's HYDRA, but we're definitely keeping Bruce." Tony hesitated. "If Barnes killed my father - "

"Then you'll deal with it," Matt said. "If it's mind control or something else - you'll have time to decide."

"You didn't kill your father's murderer," Tony said.

Matt passed him the bottle. "It's not the same thing, Tony. You have to - make your own choice."

"I - " Tony didn't take a drink.

"Luke didn't kill his wife's murderer, Jessica didn't kill her mother's - But Danny avenged his parents, Wade took out his girlfriend's killer - Frank's still hunting down the guys that took out his family. You'll deal with it the way you dealt with it before - you'll cover your soft spots and research the fuck out of it and then you can decide which way is out."

"JARVIS, tell everyone to meet us here as soon as possible, or check in at the very least," Tony announced. "Order all the pizza and make sure Pepper calls me as soon as Happy locks her down at the safehouse."

* * *

With the majority of the Avengers chasing down a glow stick overseas and Pepper and Natasha dancing around politics in DC - Matt quickly found himself handling superhero business way above his pay grade. He was pretty sure a set of mutants were stalking him through Manhattan and Hell's Kitchen but before he could suit up and handle it, Bucky _Fucking_ Barnes dropped into his perimeter.

Matt didn't have a problem with Steve, even if he knew the guy grated on Tony's nerves like nobody else - but he quickly decided he was going to have a serious problem with the other supersoldier from the 40's.

The Defenders had teamed up enough to earn a name in the press, but he absolutely hated getting them involved in his messes and Bucky Barnes turned up with only one thing on his mind - making a fucking mess.

He'd taken a bullet to the shoulder and lost all his batons by the time Jessica tumbled in and took a shot to her arm but she managed to jam a knife in his metal elbow and absorb enough of the feedback shock to disable the fucker. The arm, not the fucker.

Matt reminded himself aloud that they should try to bring him him alive but it wasn't convincing when he unloaded three clips into Luke's chest. But it gave him and Jess a shot to use their uninjured limbs to pin him down long enough for Danny to drop his Iron Fist.

He was surprised to sense another glowing appendage backing their play and smiled when he realized Colleen got a nice gift for putting up with Danny.

"Wow, this guy is fucked up," Danny commented and Matt relaxed when Jessica helped him up. "We can - maybe - "

"Don't know what we're fixing, but something's happening," Colleen explained. "He's down and we'll keep feeding him Chi until it stops taking it."

Matt started to reach for his phone when a whoosh of wind blew past him and he remembered his original problem. "Head's up - we're not alone - "

"What the hell is - " Luke started but Matt was distracted by a body knocking him to the pavement on his busted shoulder and sending his senses into overload for a moment too long.

A woman - no - a girl was waving her hands around Jessica's fallen form and Matt focused - he had to focus - fuck telepaths.

"You want to get in somebody's head, little girl? Take me for a spin," Matt growled, tackling the waifish woman to the pavement and hopefully - _fucking please_ \- keeping another stranger out of Jessica's mind. Nobody came out of a telepathic assault the way they went in but Matt had an idea.

The mutant's power prickled around his senses and it was pungent with magic and ozone and hate - but it didn't stay, only trickled across and under his skin, dissolving into his bloodstream but not taking root.

"Avengers aren't home, Sweetheart," Matt sneered, tasting blood but still in control as his world on fire flashed with red and black and white - as pretty as it was painful and from the girl's panicked gasp, it went both ways. World on Fire, _Witch_, take that and suck it. "So why don't you call your brother off and get your sticky _fucking_ fingers out of my head?"

"What are you?" she hissed.

"That's rude," Jessica said, forcibly pulling him away from the psychic.

"They're Nazis, what do you expect?" Luke said.

"We're not Nazis!" a boy with the same accent as the girl yelled and Matt was relieved to hear Colleen's katana singing through the air and stopping the kid in motion.

"HYDRA, so yeah, you totally are," Jessica said, patting his face down to search for psychic wounds.

"They're mutants," Matt said, catching her wrists to make her stop. "You're getting blood all over my face."

"Sorry."

"We're not HYDRA," the girl said. "We needed them to - "

"Don't care, not our problem," Jessica cut her off. "We don't negotiate with Nazis, Devil - you got a plan?"

"They're not brainwashed like the Winter Soldier, they kill because they want to - not because they're ordered to," he said, thinking out loud.

"So we can kill them?" Colleen chirped.

"You're on the wrong side," the boy said.

"Sokovian," Matt picked out the accent and dropped to the sidewalk with a thump, his phone digging into his thigh. Ouch. But it gave him an idea. He managed to get the speaker on and requested JARVIS to call the only mutant he could think of that owed him a favor this week.

"Yukio? Hey, it's Double D - I need to collect on that payment you owe - you get extra credit for bringing in mutants the old man hasn't found yet, right?" He had to pull the phone away from his ear when she shrieked in agreement. "Two for one special."

"You're on the news, I'll steal a jet and see you in ten minutes," she replied eagerly.

"Thanks - oh, it's a telepath and, what, a speedster."

"Pretty sure that's a different 'verse, Batman, but I'll bring the big guns."

Jessica pulled him to his feet again when he'd finished his call. "Cops?"

"Nope, children should be in school," Matt replied. "One of us really needs to invest in a car, do you think we can get the Winter Soldier in a cab?"

"Oh, I'll call an Uber," Danny offered. "And maybe an ambulance?"

"Ew," Jessica and Matt protested.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Confession 1 - I switched my Spotify playlist over to TOOL so we'll see what happens to the tone as we go. Almost got this story out of my system so fingers crossed.
> 
> Confession 2 - I dropped Yukio into a flashfic I did yesterday on my tumblr and had a lot of fun so I stole her from that muse and gave her a shout-out here.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! I had so much fun writing this! 10K and complete? What is happening! 
> 
> Thanks for all the kudos and comments!

  
Tony and Steve made it back to New York first, expecting mass hysteria or at least some kind of mild panic considering Matt's call but the renovated Tower was still intact and the local news was only running information about traffic delays without any mention of international assassins or gun battles in the street.

Steve was vibrating with anxiety and Tony had to restrain himself from hugging the guy or doing something - ugh - comforting until they found out what the fuck had happened while they were overseas

JARVIS directed them to Matt's 'no sex' apartment and Tony wasn't encouraged when he didn't spot Matt in the main room. He'd been thoroughly warned about engaging with the Defenders - even though he really wanted to harass Matt's friends. One of his favorite things was to harass Matt's friends.

"Ms. Jones? Is everything okay? The Winter Soldier - " Steve started, latching on to Jessica when she made accidental eye contact first.

"They fixed it," Jessica yawned, waving her coffee mug at Danny Rand and his girlfriend. "Fisted HYDRA right out of the bastard."

Steve choked and Tony patted his arm. "Can you rephrase that into something that makes sense?"

"Ninja magic," Jessica said, plucking a pint of whiskey from her sling to top off her coffee. "Sparkle Fist can punch a dragon to death or heal fatal wounds - right, Karate Kid?"

Danny gave her a thumbs up over his shoulder. "Wait, what are you talking about? Hey, Cap and Tony!"

He was utterly relieved when Matt appeared even if he had a sling to match Jessica's. He acknowledged them with a tired sigh. "You're going to give me a drinking problem."

"He's talking about you guys," Jessica snickered, joining Danny and his girl across the room.

"Matt, what happened? Where's - " Steve blurted out but Matt shook his head and motioned for them to follow him to the conference room.

"Okay, so I admit, I don't know much about the whole Iron Fist legend but please don't tell Danny that I haven't been listening," Matt said, closing the door. "But he's healed me a couple of times - helluva lot better than the Cradle, in my opinion so it's legit for physical wounds. With that said - we didn't know shit about the Winter Soldier. JARVIS - can you show them what you showed Claire?"

Several screens lit up but Steve twitched at the live-feed from the Hulk's cell in the basement. Luke and presumedly, Claire, were sitting just inside the thick door of the cell huddled together with the deadly assassin they've been hunting for months.

"Is he showing it?" Matt asked, sitting down heavily. "I need you guys to be up to date so I can tell you how, tangentially, I might have started a civil war with some mutants."

Tony fell into the seat beside him, definitely not wanting to hear that story. "Matt. I'm so fucking sorry - "

"You better be. I mean, you're Iron Man so of course Magneto's spawn would be attracted to you, but how the hell am I supposed to know - did you know he had kids?"

"Oh wow, no, what?" Tony blinked.

"Matt, sorry, can you go back?" Steve interrupted. "Is it safe for them to be in there with Bucky?"

Matt waved his hand vaguely and Tony felt stupid that it had taken this long to catch on. "You're drunk."

"Me and Jess split a couple of pints of blood, maybe a little whiskey," Matt replied. "JARVIS?"

A screen loaded up several CCTV videos of the Winter Soldier and Matt facing down in the street. Matt's ability to avoid bullets was impressive but not perfect against a guy like the Soldier. The Defenders dropped into the action like a wrecking ball, changing the game.

"That arm is loud as shit," Matt commented.

"Jones is a badass," Tony said and Matt gave an affirmative nod.

"Danny's super-punch is our Hail Mary - haven't found much he can't take out with the right initiative - just - Colleen says it felt different when she tagged in for backup," Matt explained. "Instead of keeping Barnes incapacitated, it switched from 'hurt' to 'heal' so we just brought him back to the Tower without any problems."

Tony almost believed him considering the video showed Barnes twitched out under two glowing fists pressed against his torso - but then the witch and track star showed up.

"Is that - did she zap your brain?" Tony asked, turning his full attention to Matt.

"She tried, didn't like how the inside of my head looked," Matt shrugged and immediately winced from the bullet wound. "Turned them over to the X-Men but they are desperately trying to give them back before the paternity test results come out. They want you dead so you're going to have to talk to to Professor X once you handle the assassin in the basement."

JARVIS broke through politely. "Mr. Murdock, you requested a warning if the nurses discovered you missing and they have just alerted Ms. Temple."

"Shit," Matt said, immediately getting to his feet. "Steve, give your boy a little time - he thinks we're HYDRA, but Luke and Claire are making headway convincing him otherwise. If anyone asks, I've been resting the whole time."

"Why don't you just let your friends fist you better?" Tony asked, dragging Steve along as he escorted Matt to the bedroom.

"They're tapped out and we try not to overuse it for non-battle situations," Matt replied.

"Who's Claire?" Steve asked. "Is she a Defender, too?"

"She's our team nurse. I'm not allowed to talk about any personal affiliations," Matt replied.

The nurse swaggered into the room with her hands on her hips and Matt cowered under her attention. Ah, she was one of Matt's exes, that made sense. Tony would have to peck at that tidbit of gossip. "Good job with the lie, fail on following medical advice."

"What's the diagnosis today?" Tony asked her.

"It's not the first time he's taken a bullet to that shoulder and I'm worried about tissue damage, I told your computer and Foggy all about it. Captain Rogers, your friend would really like to see you if you can hold your shit together better than the Devil over here," Claire said, addressing Steve as she fussed over Matt.

Tony was slightly awestruck at how easily Matt allowed her to check his wounds and get him to lie down.

"I let you give me something this time," Matt said when he was on his back.

She tapped his nose. "Whiskey doesn't count."

"How's our captive?" Matt asked.

"Still completely terrified, which is why I'm hoping Rogers is as chill as you promised," Claire replied.

Tony coughed. "Sorry, what? You think Cap is - "

Steve reached over and covered his mouth before he could finish. "I am utterly chill, thank you."

"Can you watch this one for me?" Claire asked Tony directly.

"If you promise not to let Cap in the room with Barnes, yeah. I'm not sure any of you should be in the room with him," Tony replied honestly.

"We're totally fine with letting you handle the whole situation since I'm told you guys get paid for shit like this - but we're kind of invested in the kid downstairs now," Claire replied.

"They bonded, which is not my fault," Matt sighed. "Can debrief be over now?"

"Only Avengers have to debrief and you haven't returned your application yet," Tony said, running his fingers through Matt's hair.

"Never going to return it. I already have tons of jobs," Matt replied, closing his eyes.

Claire took the 'utterly chill' Steve out of the room to vibrate somewhere else when he didn't open them again and Tony waited three whole minutes to make sure Matt's breathing settled into sleep.

Jessica stepped in, having ditched the coffee and just drinking from the bottle now. Tony had a feeling the alcohol burned through her system and she'd always pass the breathalyzer but he wasn't allowed to run tests.

"Is he out?"

"For now," Tony replied. "You want to debrief?"

"Nah. We don't want to play your superhero games," she said, dropping into the chair nearest to the door. "You ever have someone get in your head?"

"I am so glad to be able to say no to that," Tony replied warily. "Did you bond with the Winter Soldier, too?"

"Fuck, no," she snapped. "But I - had a guy pulling my strings for a while. My first kill was on his command - didn't break through until later, but - it fucked me up."

Tony didn't know what to say. "Matt doesn't want me sniffing around his friends. That sucks."

"Yeah. I didn't know it at the time, but it was Luke's wife and - he gets it because the guy rooted around in his head for a while, too - we're over it and it's fine - but it also isn't, it'll never really be all right, you know? I killed his wife. And that guy downstairs killed your dad," Jessica said.

"Fucking ouch," Tony blurted out.

"Yeah. Matt probably doesn't get it, but me and Luke - if you need to get drunk and rant about it - devil knows where we hang out," Jessica said. "I don't envy you, dude. I mean, sure Cap might get his one true love back so good for him - but you're getting a whole basket full of issues out of it."

Matt twitched in his sleep. "Are you guys talking about feelings?"

"We're bonding, go back to sleep," Tony hushed him.

"Don't hit on my friends, it makes me feel insecure," Matt mumbled.

"Gross, I'm just sticking around to see if Thor's interested in breaking some more beds or if he's stuck on Avengers' duty," Jessica said.

Tony didn't know if he was allowed to respond to that. "I could text him?"

"Thanks, buddy," she winked, leaving the room.

Matt flopped over on his stomach. "Bonding? What did I miss?"

Tony kissed his cheek and stretched out beside him. "Nothing. Sleep, I need you completely rested for our argument when you wake up."

"What's it about?"

"Muscle damage my ass," Tony whispered. "Sleep."

**Author's Note:**

> So, I have been immersing myself in the new Bon Iver album but I have no idea what his songs say _(lyric websites be damned)_ but they are so pretty with the cacophony blending with the harmonies and making me have all the feels. Title is from the iMi track off his new album, possibly, because I'm not completely sure that's what is 'sang' but it's what I got.


End file.
